Tuesday 31 January 2012 12.31 EST
First published on Tuesday 31 January 2012 12.31 EST

The time for talking is almost over – even though there are two more days left before England's batsmen can try to dredge something worthwhile out of this tour. Ian Bell, one of the tormented trio in the middle order, spoke candidly on Tuesday about the difficulties ahead. But he knows that runs in Dubai would be far more eloquent.

England go into the third Test against Pakistan on Friday 2-0 down in the series and on the back of being humiliatingly dismissed for just 72 on Saturday. Bell has, thus far, scored only 36 runs in his four innings.

"We have sat down and spoken about things that we need to improve and that we need to start doing," said Bell. "That might not happen by the next Test but we have Sri Lanka coming up and India so we have to talk about it now. We have to be honest, get it out and get it done. There is no point putting it off until Sri Lanka because we might make the same mistakes again."

Oddly enough Bell is under rather less pressure among the three middle‑order batsmen, who have mustered 94 runs from 291 balls in 12 innings in the series so far. Eoin Morgan has scored five more runs than Bell but he does not have the ballast of a highly successful Test record in 2011.

It would be a surprise if Morgan's position is not taken by Ravi Bopara on Friday. The "same team, different batting" philosophy cannot always apply. Kevin Pietersen has only 17 runs to his name in the series and, of course, he attracts attention and criticism like cheddar cheese does ploughmen (who seem to be in short supply in this neck of the woods). But Pietersen also has some credit.

This time Bell will not be dropped – as he was after a previous batting humiliation in Jamaica when England were bowled out for 51 in 2009. "That was the right decision," says Bell now(he held a different view at the time). "I hadn't scored runs for a while. It's a different scenario now. I've played consistently well for two years".

He acknowledged the threat of the Pakistan spinners. "They've bowled at a good pace; it's real quick spin, which has taken me a bit by surprise. They've bowled particularly well at the new batter coming in. I like to use my feet. I'd like to be able to do that to [Saeed] Ajmal but I just haven't been in there long enough to put my gameplan to the test." Here, at least, is a hint that Bell intends to be aggressive if he can stay in.

One of England's batting coaches – the one in Sri Lanka with the A team rather than one now back in Essex – is a model for Bell. "I always remember watching Graham Thorpe play [in Sri Lanka] and getting right down the wicket or deep back in the crease. He used to pop down and hit one over mid-on, or get back and knock his singles and that's the style we need.

"Sometimes you have to take a calculated punt just to put the pressure back on the bowler, create a gap where you want a single".

So there's the plan. It's a perfectly good plan. The problem is that the Pakistan spinners have been superb. Abdur Rehman had the figures after England's collapse in Abu Dhabi but it is Ajmal who really preys on the minds of the middle order. "The speed at which he bowls early in your innings has made it difficult to pick which way it's going," says Bell.

Bell obviously wants to bat against Ajmal in adventurous fashion. He wants to come down that track. But when a batsman is not sure which way the ball is going to bounce upon landing, this tactic hovers somewhere between adventurous and foolhardy – at least until he has been out there for 20 balls or more, a goal which has often proved too demanding for the tourists.

So the challenge (they prefer that word to "problem") has been articulated; it has been disseminated; it has been intensely analysed. But has it been solved?